Westerville Symphony’s 35th reflective season

More than 50 years ago, Otterbein University’s Department of Music established the Otterbein Orchestra, a collection of student musicians. Over the ensemble’s first few years, additional seats were filled with help from the community, and concerts were performed alongside Otterbein’s Department of Theatre.

This continued until 1980, when the Department of Music applied for a grant that would allow for the expansion and continued growth of the orchestra within the community. And the rest, well, is history.

Today, the ensemble is comprised of more than 80 professional musicians, semi-professional musicians and Otterbein students. The symphony is now celebrating 35 years in the music business, and its 2017-18 season is intended to reflect the milestone.

And that’s not the only landmark achievement of the 2017-18 season. It’s also the 25-year anniversary with the orchestra for Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson, having joined up in 1992.

“The thing about Westerville that initially sparked my interest was the great college connection and art scene,” says Wilson. “Three years after moving here, a spot opened within the symphony and I applied. It took about 18 months to complete the whole process. I was given the chance to introduce myself not only to the orchestra, but the surrounding communities.

Something must’ve worked, because I’m still here 25 years later.”

The season kicked off with an Oct. 22 performance of Gustav Holst’s The Planets and John Williams’ Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It marked the first time the symphony had put on such an elaborate show, Wilson says.

“We’re kicking it up a notch or two,” he says. “I had the pleasure of presiding over a show back in 2008 for the Columbus Symphony (Orchestra), and knew I needed to bring that here to this community.”

The symphony also welcomed new Executive Director Hild Peersen in September.

“I think orchestras give people a chance to experience something much more than the sum of the individual talent. It brings the community together to experience something uplifting. It reminds us to dream.” - Wilson

The season continues with Sounds of the Season, the symphony’s annual holiday show on Dec. 12. Further shows include performances with Now Device, a group of visual artists from Seattle, and violinist Lindsay Deutsch, a talented musician who will join the orchestra for a special showing of her new Beatles Concerto. The symphony’s January Tunes & Tales show at the Westerville Public Library will be back, too.

“A friend of mine, Andy Geiger, thanked me for a concert once after a football game. He said to me, ‘What you guys really do is feed our souls.’ I will never forget that,” says Wilson. “I think orchestras give people a chance to experience something much more than the sum of the individual talent. It brings the community together to experience something uplifting. It reminds us to dream.”